The other week, Oppo took the wraps off its latest Reno smartphones in Kenya: the Reno10 5G and the Reno 10 Pro 5G.
Ahead of its local unveiling, we got our hands on one of the devices, the Reno10 5G. For over a week now, we have been taking the device through its paces with a goal of sharing a comprehensive review with you by the end of the month.
Before then, however, here’s a quick look at the device and what you can expect should you head out and buy it.
Unboxing
Inside the box, this is what you get alongside the smartphone itself:
Impressions
From the front, the Oppo Reno10 5G feels and looks like most of its predecessors.
The display slightly curves on both sides, something that we have previously seen with the Reno8 T 5G we had been using before it.
The most pronounced changes can be seen on the upper side of its frame as well as the upper part of its shiny back. On the former, we meet a breath of fresh air: an infrared (IR) blaster.
Remember those?
We used to have them on a bunch of Huawei smartphones back in the day. We have previously seen them on Samsung devices (at least a decade ago). However, that has been in the past. In recent years, the IR blaster on smartphones has been all but dead with Chinese device maker Xiaomi remaining as the only high profile device maker that still bothers with it. And even then, they only avail it on select devices.
So, users of the Reno10 5G series will be more than happy to note that this tiny but novel feature is on their devices. They can worry less about where the remotes to their televisions and home theatre systems are. It’s not a big deal but it’s really a nice to have feature. One that you can see yourself using frequently.
The other change, of course, is the camera hump. It makes the device wobble when placed on a flat surface, sure but that’s a minor bump (pun very well intended) on your journey to experiencing, as we have over the past week, a very good camera experience, one that delivers in lowlight conditions as well as in sufficient lighting.
There’s no headphone jack so let’s get that out of the way. You can expand the internal storage using a microSD card and there’s space for that in what can otherwise be the SIM2 slot.
There’s not much that appears to have changed as far as the software experience goes. It’s still the standard Oppo experience. If you haven’t read our reviews of previous Oppo smartphones, here’s what that means: you get a customized Android experience that is very pleasurable to use. It stays out of your way and the customizations are more of Oppo keeping its identity while adding value to the overall user experience than trying to annoy you.
Still, there’s the odd duplication of apps that Google already offers. Like, for instance, you have Oppo’s own messaging app out of the box. That will be fine and will work for most people but for readers of Android Kenya who we can presume know what they want, that won’t give you RCS messaging, which you get when you use Google’s messaging app. There’s also an added browser app that you may not have much use for if, like yours truly, Chrome is your staple. Curiously, it’s not just that “Internet” browser app from Oppo that’s pre-installed. There’s also the Phoenix browser that we have come to associate with the Transsion Group (the mother company of Tecno, Infinix and the likes).
There’s a good fusion of the software and hardware experience so at no given point do you feel a strain. You will find that the device’s memory is just alright. The included onboard storage is more than sufficient for you and that the chipset pushes everything that it needs to to make sure that you focus on whatever you need to get out of the Reno10 5G.
The battery life is good and I average a day’s worth of use on a full charge. Talking about charging, you get the same excellent SuperVOOC fast charging with the included 67W charger and charging cable.
Sure, there’s a crowd that’s very excited about USB C at this point in time but Oppo – and every other Android device maker for that matter – has been offering this for years and has been working on its fast charging along the way to the point that one of the selling points of its devices is this ability to plug in your phone just before you step into the shower and, by the time you’re done and all dressed up, you have juice to last you an entire day.
As highlighted above, we are still taking the Reno10 5G through its paces and we’ll be back with a full review in a fortnight.
In the meantime, if you happen to buy the Reno10 5G, you will obviously be looking forward to seeing that “5G” part of the name at work, right? Here’s how to go about that since the network access isn’t on by default.
